Overall loved Alaska but hated the Jewel. And all the 50+ people I talked to on the cruise felt similarly. Now that I'm still horribly sick from whatever virus from the cruise, despite masking properly and traveling solo to avoid people, I definitely won't be going back to Norwegian again.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Very disorganized but speedy. Staff on the ship didn't know where the dining room was
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Could not be worse. I got food poisoning 2 times and ate only at the main dining room but the meals were very lukewarm and tasted poor except for the steak. Truly a huge stepdown from other cruise lines that were cheaper too.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Lack of anything interesting - mostly just activities that try to sell you on things.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Norwegian's Le Cirque Bijou was good, but the other ones weren't due to bad acoustics and the sound came out extremely loud. The comedian was great.
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
I expected when I left my room at 7am and flipped the sign on the door to clean the room, that it would be done before 10am. Instead he only came at noon, when I came back to rest. My cabin steward did not even know my name and was very unresponsive. The quality and timeliness of service is ridiculous when Norwegian charges a $20/pp/day fee.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
Horrific. No interactive maps all around either despite being refurbished in 2022. Worse, the smoking only in designated areas policy wasn't enforced at all, so I just drank in cigarette smoke every time I went to the deck to watch the scenery. And moreover, I contracted a virus from the cruise that gave me very debilitating cough and diarrhea for over an entire week (still suffering from it).
Cabin / Stateroom
1 out of 5
Crew only door right above so it bangs open and close so much during the night and I got very little sleep
I've been on the Jewel and had a great time and enjoyed great food. After over 40 cruises, I have yet to have a perfect cruise where something didn't go wrong, but never experienced all the negatives in this review. I believe a cruise is a person's perspective and some people let one bad thing get in the way of enjoying the cruise, and from that point only look for the bad. I won't let anything good or bad ruin my cruises, cause otherwise I wasted my money being miserable.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
